Caddo junior Gage Vaughn took home her second state championship in three years while a trio of Durant and Caddo boys grapplers each won a match at the OSSAA State Wrestling Championships last weekend at OG&E Coliseum in Oklahoma City.
Vaughn was perfect in her three matches in the Class 5A Girls 140-pound division to close the season with a glossy 31-1 record.
Fellow Bruin Noah Dry notched a 1-2 record in the boys’ 190-pound Class 3A category while the Lion duo of Aiden Polk and Mac Barbush posted similar marks at 157 and 150 pounds respectively in Class 5A. Durant freshman Camila Amaya dropped her only match in the girls’ 190-pound category.
For Vaughn, the state title equaled her championship as a freshman after finishing as state runner-up a season ago, not allowing a single opponent scoring point in the process.
She took an early 3-0 advantage on a takedown in the opening match against Annabelle Mowdy of Checotah before ending it on a pin fall at the 1:24 mark. The story was much the same in the semifinals as Vaughn scored a quick takedown and then ended it with another pin in only 32 seconds facing Jay’s Khloe Murray.
The finale was complete domination against Maggie Beaird from Mannford as she posted a takedown just nine seconds in and followed up with a pair of near falls before the end of the first period and 11-0 lead. Another takedown to start the second frame resulted in the title clinching pinfall only 39 seconds into the period.
Dry got off to a great start with a 16-2 major decision over Vinita’s Dagan Hopkins. It was only 3-0 after a first period takedown but the scoring picked up in the second stanza as the Caddo grappler yielded an escape but followed up with a takedown and near fall as his lead increased to 10-1. Two more takedowns by Dry in the third period led to the finish.
It didn’t go as well in his final two matches, dropping a 1:44 fall to Dakota Dahlenburg of Hinton and a 15-4 major decision to Dane Jensen from Pawhuska.
Wrestling at 157 pounds, Polk built a 6-1 lead with a pair of early takedowns before pinning McGuinness’ Luke Parcell in only 90 seconds. He fell behind in a round two battle with Malachi Jefferson of Lawton Mac before rallying a bit with escapes in the second and third stanza as well as reversal but came up short in the 9-4 decision.
In consolation bracket action, Polk took Gregory Mendoza from Del City into the third period but was stopped in a 4:23 fall verdict.
Barbush meanwhile grabbed a fast 3-0 lead on a takedown against Lawton’s Damien Watson and ended the opening round contest by fall victory at 1:38.
The Lion wrestler ran into Del City standout Dimitri Kizer in round two and was on the rough end of a 15-0 technical fall and then wrapped up his tournament run with a 3:58 fall decision at the hands of Braxton Jones of Carl Albert.
Amaya made it to the third round of her bracket qualifying match ahead of a 5:40 pin fall loss to Putnam City’s Tessalynn Goodner.
